Comfort
by nyte-nurs
Summary: Post-episode for in name and blood.  One shot, complete, what should have happened after the closing scenes!


Just a one shot that sprang out of rewatching season 3.

**Comfort.**

Disclaimer- I own nothing & no infringement is intended.

Prentiss was unsure how long she'd been gazing out of the window, watching the city's lights. She knew only that her head was not so quietly pounding, her neck ached and she could feel stiffness settling in over the right side of her body where she had been hit and had fallen. She snatched up the container of painkillers she had been given and read the label deciding whether she wanted them or not. Physical pain she was fairly good at ignoring but not alongside everything that was running through her mind.

Hotch turning up here. Everything he had said. Everything he had not. She wanted to numb something and the headache seemed the most accessible option right now. Searching her kitchen for soda she found instead a bottle of wine and decided one glass would do no harm, palmed two tiny white tablets and washed them down with a mouthful of red wine. Grimacing she vowed not to do that again. It did not taste or feel good. Slumping gently into her sofa she shuffled until she could find a bearable position and then flopped her head back and closed her eyes.

What a day. Still they had brought home a woman who would not have survived if they hadn't acted as quickly. And she had kind of enjoyed the look on Strauss's face when she and Hotch turned up. That aside she felt like she'd been through a wringer. It had taken a lot to decide to leave the BAU but truthfully she did hate politics but it had only been when Strauss had asked her to bring Hotch down that she realised how much she had grown to care for him, in a less than professional sense. She didn't feel she could continue in her job if she could be used to try to hurt him in any way. It made her feel unprofessional to realise how she thought about the man who was her supervisor and that had been a major factor in her decision to resign. Then he'd turned up on her doorstep, and she found she couldn't refuse him anything. More than that she couldn't let him walk out without trying to draw more out of him, asking why he'd come, willing a less than professional answer from a married man. She had never doubted she would come back if he asked her, but she was anxious about what that meant for how she worked. She didn't feel it had affected her performance in Milwaukee, apart from a brief daydream about him leaning in to kiss her cut forehead better.

Sighing at herself she put down the now empty wine glass and wondered quite how she'd drunk it as she didn't remember doing so. Maybe one more? Then she'd have herself a proper pity party. She poured herself half a glass allowing some concession but stopping short of full on self indulgence. She wasn't a big drinker and did not make a habit of indulging self pity or whatever it was she had going this evening. Surveying herself in the mirror she tentatively peeled away the ridiculously large plaster that adorned her forehead. Underneath it were several ragged cuts and a serious bruise starting to show. She was almost glad, at least she had something to show for the encounter and maybe the mark almost justified the way her head was pounding.

Abruptly her self analysis was interrupted by a gentle knock on the door. She raised her eyebrows in puzzlement and painfully sweeping her hair out of the way she peered through the peephole. She was surprised to see a somewhat dishevelled Aaron Hotchner standing on the other side.

He looked at her directly through the tiny opening and she jumped back as if he could see her, "Emily?" he called quietly. He was obviously aware of her neighbours and the late hour, though she wondered then how late it was.

Reluctantly she opened the door, but did not block his entrance. He stepped through without waiting for further invitation and she closed the door behind him, using the time facing the surface to neutralise her expression.

"I didn't wake you?" he asked.

She shook her head, "No, I was just unwinding with a glass of wine. Do you want one?" she said because she could think of nothing better.

He seemed to deliberate for a moment then agreed, "Uh yeah, OK. Thanks." he watched as she poured them both a glass, hers smaller than his, "You OK to drink after a knock on the head?"

She shrugged, "Too late if not. Is that why you're here? I don't need a babysitter."

He shook his head and walked away from her to her living area and gazed out of the window just as she had done earlier.

"Whats going on?" she asked gently as she took a seat far away from him on the sofa and placed her wine down on the table untouched. Her stomach was knotted just looking at him. He clearly had something on his mind, was he here to tell her he had changed his mind and he wanted to accept her resignation?

He took a gulp of wine before briefly looking her in the eye, she wasn't entirely sure what she saw there but it made her heart jump into her mouth.

"The last two weeks on suspension, I spent time with Hayley, and Jack, doing normal things, being a normal husband and father." he told her.

She pushed herself further back into the sofa, if that was possible, "It made you realise what you've missed." she said quietly.

His head snapped up to look at her, "Not in the way you think." he replied.

"What then?"

"I enjoyed having time with them, but it's not enough for me. I can't separate myself from this job and I don't want it." he said blankly.

"So?" she prompted.

"So, I tried to ignore it but Hayley was telling me basically that if I return to the BAU our marriage is over." he slumped onto the opposite side of the sofa to her and took another gulp of wine before gazing into it miserably.

"So, what are you doing here Hotch?" she asked gently.

"When I got home this evening, Hayley and Jack were gone. And I don't think she has any intention of coming back." he paused and looked her in the face properly for the first time since he had entered, "Hayley left me tonight, and the only thing I wanted to do was come here, and see you Emily."

Her head swam and her vision blurred for a moment and Prentiss realised she had been holding her breath. She tried to release it quietly but wasn't sure she accomplished that at all. In fact she was fairly certain she was actually hyperventilating but Hotch seemed not to have noticed. He was fairly determinedly gulping down the rest of his wine. She considered doing the same just to be doing something but suddenly the wine she'd already had felt sour on her stomach along with the pain killers and she couldn't face anymore. Her mind raced. Had he really just said that? And why? Did he think she was most likely to still be in and awake? Have the best selection of alcohol to hand? Have the most sympathetic ear? Or did he really mean that on the day his wife left him he didn't want to find Hayley and beg her to try again, he wanted to spend the night here with her?

"I think that's the longest I've ever heard you silent, Prentiss." Hotch commented as he examined the bottom of his now empty glass.

Her jaw hung open as she struggled for sensible words to use to reply with, she couldn't find any. Go home you're drunk, except he wasn't. I could never have those feelings for you, you're my boss, except she could and did though he remained her boss. You're not thinking rationally, that was true. He might be willing to end his marriage over his wife's inability to accept the job at this moment, but spending the night with a subordinate was a good way to wreck any reconciliation hopes he may have had tomorrow when things cooled off.

"I'm not sure what you mean by that, Hotch." she decided upon in the end.

He cleared his throat, "I mean that I have seriously considered the possibility of cheating on my wife and flouting F.B.I. policy so that I could begin a relationship with you."

"But you're not a cheat, Hotch." she assured him.

"No I'm not. But my wife left me because she felt I cheated on our family with my job. Maybe she's right." he said with a slight tilt of the head.

"Maybe she is Hotch.'

He exhaled sharply and threw himself into a slumped position on her sofa, starring at her ceiling.

"I should go." he mused out loud, "It was unfair of me to do this, I don't know what I expected to happen."

She edged closer to him cautiously and regarded him in what she hoped was a cool manner, "Neither do I Hotch. Were you expecting a warm body to land on?"

"No!" he replied, ensuring he gave her full eye contact, "God, no Emily. I just .. I don't know, I hadn't meant to tell you about anything other than Hayley going."

She half nodded, she thought she knew Aaron Hotchner well, but really he wasn't above the same urges as anyone else. She had on occasion felt like loosing herself in drinking, dancing, casual sex and had done so, she hadn't imagined that their esteemed and self controlled chief would ever feel the same, but still she couldn't escape the impression that he had come here with the impression she would reciprocate his feelings.

"I guess," he added continuing to look her in the eye, "I have lost two people I care about today, and I wanted to make sure you knew that I do care for you, more than I should, and maybe when all this mess is sorted out we can do something about that?"

She continued to regard him with a raised eyebrow, "I won't be anyone's rebound, Hotch." she warned cooly.

"I know that and I wouldn't want you to be. But you haven't rejected the thought and kicked me out on my ass, yet. That's enough for now." he said.

"Then are you going or staying?" she asked gently.

"I don't really want to go back to the empty house tonight." he admitted.

"Then you can have the sofa." she told him and he nodded gratefully.

She leaned forward to meet his gaze and held it for a few seconds before edging forward and sealing his lips with hers in a gentle kiss. She sighed when he responded, bringing his face up to meet hers and placing a warm hand on the back of her neck to ensure she didn't break away too quickly. Without breaking the contact between them he gently manoeuvred them until she was relaxed against the back of the sofa and he was sitting over her. She brought her right hand up and placed it flat against his chest to stop him. He understood the gesture straight away and broke away from the kiss she had initiated, resting his forehead against hers they both sighed releasing pent up tension. He closed his eyes as she slipped out from underneath him and he buried his hand against the soft fabric of the sofa for a second before turning back and sitting straighter. He leaned her arm when she placed a hand on his shoulder from behind him.

"That will just have to keep you going … for now." she said.

"Hey, the sofa? You have a spare bedroom." he accused.

"Yes," she replied, "I wouldn't want you to get too comfortable though."


End file.
